Numerical Investigation of a novel design of a solar chimney coupled with a turbine ventilator

Abstract

Solar chimney is a popular natural ventilation system that utilizes solar energy to generate air movement for the purpose of controlling indoor air quality and temperature in building applications. The design of solar chimney has been optimized over the years and the effectiveness has been tested in numerous experiments and real buildings. This work focusses on a new design of solar chimney that couples with a turbine ventilator. The new design combines both the wind-driven ventilation from turbine ventilator and the sun-driven ventilation from solar chimney for an enhanced ventilation rate and improved operating conditions. The effectiveness of the design is evaluated by performing high fidelity flows and heat transfer calculation in idealized scenarios using computational fluid dynamics method. The results show the design has a promising prospect to be a better ventilator than its individual components.